At the start of this decade, thought leaders in Workplace Health and Safety were flagging that the decade would be one focused on the HEALTH aspects of Health and Safety and with good reason.
Safety is widely understood to be the process of managing risk through the identification, assessment and control of hazards that arise as work is performed.
In general terms, this has become an integrated process in most organisations and few would not have dealt with it in some way. Much has been accomplished through the notion of safe design; be it the physical parameters where work is performed or the work processes themselves. Yet somehow, design for people has flagged behind. This has resulted in work environments that have a dragging effect on the health of many workers; be it through high demands that push people into overuse or other dis-connectors that have the effect of disengaging people in psycho-social terms.
The term WELLNESS has gained momentum in the last few years and most lead organisations have programs to promote this notion, though it has largely focused on the physical aspects of health. Any psycho-social aspects have been quickly relegated to the psychologists though employee assistance programs and separated largely from work. So, not surprising, today we are left with the unanswered challenge of mental health in the workplace. When we say unanswered challenge, what we mean is the sidelining of issues or quiet words between colleagues and/or managers. The challenges in effect remain unanswered. It is clear that we require a true open discussion about the aspects of social processes that support health from a psychological perspective. Change is required to alter the way we interact with each other and support each other for success so that we are simultaneously meeting organisational needs whilst ameliorating the pre-conditions to mental illness where we can.
Therefore, we need to start tackling safe design for people from the angle of social process and leadership. It’s a space that we at Enhance Solutions are comfortable operating in and are known for doing well. We are now augmenting our ideas and we welcome a conversation with you.
If you need assistance in this area we’d be more than happy to help you in your efforts.